Dahi details collab-heavy debut album Black Boy (Alternative), shares Childish Gambino collaboration “Running”

The 11-track record pulls together a wide cast of guests. Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Channel Tres, Ravyn Lenae, Baby Rose, Moses Sumney, Amber Mark, Fousheé, Obongjayar, and Elmiene all appear across the tracklist. Two songs, “Rest Of Your Life” and the Moses Sumney and Mez-assisted “Find Me”, had already been shared ahead of the full announcement.

Dahi has described the album as a project that reframes Black identity as self-defined, drawing on his own history of absorbing hip-hop, R&B, and the alternative and rock sounds that the culture around him rarely reflected back. The title references the boy who found himself in that conflict. Rather than treat those influences as separate lanes, Black Boy (Alternative) binds them into a single statement.

“Running” picks up the thread of the pair’s previous work. It’s the kind of collaboration that makes sense given Dahi’s history: as DJ Dahi, he helped shape the atmospheric backbone of Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees”, the hypnotic minimalism of Drake’s “Worst Behavior”, and contributed to Travis Scott’s Rodeo, and SZA’s SOS. He picked up a Grammy for Best Rap Song in 2020 for 21 Savage’s “a lot” and earned a Producer of the Year nomination in 2023.

Stepping into the foreground as a solo artist, Dahi is clearly aiming to make something that carries the same weight as the records he’s built for others, but on his own terms.

Black Boy (Alternative) tracklist

“Who Are You” ft. Vince Staples, Channel Tres and French Anthony
“Find Me” ft. Moses Sumney and Mez
“How To Pray” ft. Kendrick Lamar and Amber Mark
“Running” ft. Childish Gambino
“Love Me” ft. Obongjayar
“They Don’t Know Me” ft. Mez
“The Night” ft. Kurtis Wells
“Rest of Your Life”
“Stand For Something” ft. Jesse Boykins III, Baby Rose and Ant Clemons
“Square Up” ft. Fousheé
“Drowning” ft. Elmiene and Ravyn Lenae